In the prior art, various attempts have been made to provide support pillows which have a foam body provided with different types of contours, and which have a cover to protect the foam. One problem with this type of structure is that most covers, for hygienic purposes, are made of fabrics which can be laundered; typically, fabrics for infant use range from cotton to synthetic blends. Generally speaking, such covers are of a porous nature so that any liquid or moist substance coming in contact with the cover can be transmitted through to the foam body.
The prior art also teaches that such cloth covers are removable from the foam body for the purpose of laundering the cover. However, with liquids which penetrate the foam body, or with substances which migrate from the surface of the cloth cover into the foam body, cleaning of the foam is sometimes difficult if not impossible. So, while the cover can be readily cleaned, the foam body may not be so readily cleanable resulting in the fact that such articles can become non-useable (from a hygienic point of view).
The use of foam bodies for infant pillows is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,134, which also has another disadvantage when one tries to provide a contour for the pillow to permit ready use of the product for infants. Normally, foams have a given density so that the density of the foam at e.g., a narrow end is the same as the density as the foam at the thickest part of the body. When compressed due to a given amount of weight, the foam will obviously not be of a constant depth even though the same foam density is employed, due to the varying thickness of the foam for the body. It would be desirable, even when the pillow has varying thicknesses, to have the same degree of compressibility whether at a thin portion of the pillow or at its thickest part.
The present invention solves the above problems of the above type of prior art (such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,134) in reducing or eliminating the permeability of the fabric covers over a foam body and at the same time, providing an infant pillow which has a generally constant maximum depressibility for the product irregardless of the varying thicknesses of the product.
Other devices typical of the prior art include U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,649 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,429. Prior art reference U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,649 discloses a multiple chambered device, having at least two chambers where one of the two chambers is fully inflated. Multiple chambered devices suffer from the disadvantages of increased size and costs. Such multi-chambered pillows have increased associated costs for additional material, increased volume requirements, and, from a users point of view there is an increased amount of consumer effort and work involved in inflating and using such devices.
Prior art reference U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,429 also discloses such a "U-shaped" detachable pillow multiple chambered device, wherein the lower chamber is to be filled with a liquid. This device includes a removable valve and lower pillow and does not lend itself for use as a support pillow for nursing an infant.
It is therefore one aspect of certain embodiments of the present invention to provide a portable device for providing support for the entire body of an infant.
It is another aspect of certain embodiments of the present invention to provide a device for providing support for an older child as a backrest or cushion.
It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide an inflatable, readily portable device for providing infant/ child support.
The device of the present invention offers numerous advantages over the prior art. The present invention can be reduced by deflation to a have a substantially smaller size then when inflated, when not in use, for example as for storage.
The device according to the present invention has a separate removable cover which advantageously provides for its removal for ease of washing and cleaning.
The device according to the present invention allows for a manually adjustable air pressure. This permits a user to inflate the air chamber to e.g., 75% inflation for use as a nursing pillow. In an alternative embodiment, the air chamber can be fully inflated if desired for older children to use as a back rest or cushion.
A further advantage over the prior art is that the device according to the present invention provides for a constant air pressure and subsequent air support for an infant in the nursing position. In a nursing support use, the air pressure inside the support pillow automatically conforms to the users body contours, and also that of the nursing infant.